Return
by lrhaboggle
Summary: In 3 different scenarios, even after death has parted them, Elphaba will always return to Glinda, even if in a different way each time. (Three-part one-shot, mostly book canon, not continuous).


Glinda was dying and she knew it. It had been nearly a century since Dorothy had dropped into Oz. Glinda was, then, by that measure, about 130. This meant that she had lived quite a long life, even by Gillikin standard. Normally, she would've liked to brag about being blessed with such a long lifespan but, ever since about 100 of those 130 years ago, when she had lost her best friend, Glinda had begun to wonder why a long life was considered such a blessing, especially if there was no one there to share it with her. Sure, as Ozian queen, Glinda had a multitude of people to hang out with and share her life with and she could have, no doubt, called in one of her many servants to keep her company as she died but, suddenly, the thought of any of those air-headed, hollow-hearted sheep trying to lull _her_ into death was appalling. Annoying, even! She would've rather died alone here than have any person in this castle try to attend to her in her last moments...

"When did I become so against human contact?" she teased herself weakly, shuddering. Suddenly, then, a slew of painful and unwanted memories flooded back, as though answering her rhetorical question. She had grown against human contact after her best friend died. There was no one left she wanted to be intimate with after the green girl had passed away. "I miss you Elphie," she whimpered out. "But I still wait for your return," she added. But a fit of coughing prevented her from saying more. When at last that fit ended, however, a misty green figure had appeared by her bedside. She smiled weakly but happily. She ignored the pain in her chest as she turned to face the figure. "You wicked thing. You've taken your own sweet time, of course," she said. Her breath hissed out on the 's' of 'course' and didn't ever reenter.

"You've held out long enough my sweet," whispered a kind and gentle voice. Glinda saw a flash of green, then her world went dark.

The next time sight had been restored to her, the shape of a green female figure slowly came into focus, but all else was still black.

"Elphie?" the joy in Glinda's voice was palpable. Elphaba smiled and embraced her long-lost friend.

"Shall we?" she asked and Glinda only smiled in return, offering her arm. Elphaba took it and led Glinda on through the darkness. Then, as they walked along, Glinda felt something about her body change. She looked down to see that her old white nightgown had suddenly become the pink dress she wore all the time back when she was just a college student at Shiz U. Then, when she turned to Elphaba, she could see that the girl's witchy outfit had also reverted back to the standard female uniform for a Shiz student. What? Was this their Afterlife? Why were they suddenly dressed like schoolgirls again? And how? All of it felt so familiar yet so new to Glinda. It seemed to her that she recognized everything and nothing. It was a strange but wonderful sensation and she couldn't wait to explore it all.

"Elphie, I have a feeling we're not in Oz anymore," said Glinda in fear and joy. Elphaba simply smiled and together, the two entered the light.

ooo

Glinda sat before a fire that had been going on in one of the Emerald City Palace's many parlor rooms. Nothing and everything felt right. Life seemed normal, but Glinda felt on edge today, unusually so, like she was waiting for something big. Before she could figure it out, though, a pathetic 14-year-old-ish boy had been brought into the parlor room to see her.

"What is you name?" she asked him calmly, tone masking the storm swirling inside her head.

"Liir," he replied shyly and, in that one little reply, Glinda felt the strongest, strangest sense of déjà vu that she had ever felt before in her life. She chanted his name over and over in her head several times until a realization finally stirred up within her. Their eyes met and they both silently knew what the other was thinking. He was Elphaba's son.

An hour later, the boy had left Glinda's presence and it was like nothing had ever even happened. Again, she sat before that still-roaring fire in parlor room, but Glinda finally began to realize just why she'd felt so unnaturally on edge that day. It was Liir. She was sure he was Elphaba's son. Though it took a tantrum and a burnt broom to prove it, she was sure of it now. There was no physical similarity, but the dark yet noble air of the boy reflected Elphaba so well that Glinda was sure of his mother's identity, even without any real, solid proof. They were just too alike in mannerism, word and demeanor, even if their physical appearances had nothing in common. Glinda could already tell, too, that if their paths would ever cross again, it would be because of something massive and she would surely be a part of it. Glinda knew this with as much certainty as she had known that Liir was Elphaba's son. There was no real proof, but Glinda was certain of it nonetheless. Was this faith?

Fear and willingness both suddenly flooded Glinda's system. She wanted to care for the boy, but she knew that he needed to find himself, that is, she could not be there to mother him as she wished, for it would only be a detriment. He was a boy on a mission, she could not interrupt that. Instead, she could only send him off with a mere farewell. She hoped that neither she nor his real mother had been too harsh on him, but Glinda had to admit that she didn't think she really had the stuff to be a parent. But then again, Elphaba hadn't either, and yet Liir had made it this far. He had lived. Then that thought sunk in Glinda's dead beyond superficial daydreaming. He lived, Her son lived. In that way...

"Elphaba made her return," smiled Glinda with a soft but strong spark burning in her heart. She still was tense, but there was a strange peace in her heart now and although she continued listlessly to stare into the parlor room's flames, she felt ready for anything. "Elphaba lives,"

ooo

Glinda sat wearily in her Southstairs cell, staring at the back wall through the dark, when a screech of her cell door caught her attention. She turned to see a green-skinned girl standing in the open doorway, key in one hand and very dim lantern in the other.

"Miss Glinda?" the voice was soft and sweet. It wasn't Elphaba. Glinda bit back disappointment and forced herself to get up to see Rain properly through the shadows. This girl was Elphaba's granddaughter, Liir's child. Glinda had never been very close to the girl, but somehow seeing her face again alleviated some of the stress that Glinda hadn't even realized that she'd had.

"Have you come to get me out of this awful prison?" she asked as she looked at Rain's shadowy figure.

"Yes I have," the girl replied. Glinda smiled at her weakly before slowly rising to her feet and following the green girl out the door.

A bit later, the two stood before Glinda's old home, the Emerald City Palace. It had been fully restored from the battle against Shell and La Mombi, but at the same time, both of them knew that the palace would never ever be the same again. Rain was the first to speak.

"I think I'll go now," she said, voice calm and airy instead of sweet and gentle. That was more like the detached child Glinda had known.

"Oh? Where?" she asked. She instinctively knew that Rain had big plans but she, for some reason, didn't really want to know. She was only asking out of politeness. Wait. Since when had Glinda 'just asked out of politeness'? Wasn't that a trait she'd shed years ago? But no, here she was, asking Rain what her big plans were, although she almost was too afraid to listen to the answer.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, to the western sky. I don't know," Rain seemed to be talking to herself anyway, but Glinda nodded regardless.

"That seems to be a good plan," she said, though because there was no conviction in her voice, Rain ignored it easily.

The two continued to stand side by side, staring up at the EC Palace in silence for a bit longer before, once again, Rain broke the silence.

"Well, goodbye Miss Glinda," she said, voice suddenly very curt, sharp and formal. But then, without warning, she suddenly hugged Glinda, wrapping her short, bony arms around Glinda's unhealthily thin midsection. It was a genuine hug, and Glinda returned it, just as sincere, for once. She wrapped eerily pale arms around green skin and simply held on in silence for a moment.

No words were spoken, but none were needed. Instead, in that one short little hug, a world of messages and meanings was conveyed so that, once the two finally broke apart, they were already seeing each other through different eyes.

"We'll be ok Miss Glinda," said Rain calmly. "I think we will be."

"Yes, Rain, I think so too," Glinda agreed calmly, though she had no proof to her words. "In fact, I am sure of it."

"Then, I shall be off," Rain replied with another detached shrug.

"Very well," Glinda nodded her blessing and Rain took it with a nod of her own before turning away from the newly-liberated blond. Glinda watched her go long after she was out of sight, lost in the dark and twisting streets of the Emerald City.

Glinda continued to stand outside the palace. She knew she would be allowed back in, imprisonment lifted, but she wasn't quite sure that she wanted to. Not yet at least. Instead, she continued to watch the street that Rain had disappeared down. Although the two had never been close, Glinda had still raised Rain and, to watch her just go off knowing that they would never meet again in this lifetime felt an awful lot like losing a child. Glinda did not cry, having grown out of tears long ago, but she still felt a deep sense of loss.

"Hold out my sweet," Glinda whispered to Rain. It felt right to give Rain the farewell Elphaba gave her so long ago.

Suddenly, then, Glinda felt as though Rain had been Elphaba's way of a return. Sure, the two were very different but, at the same time, they shared a lot of things in common (beyond the witchery and green skin). They were both aloof but capable of great love and they both had defeated a tyrant, only to decide to vanish after the last battle, whether to death or some Great Beyond, which was almost the equivalent. Even now, Glinda thought, she could see some tiny speck rising up over in the direction that Rain had gone. Was she riding Elphaba's broom now? Defying gravity to somewhere over the rainbow and out of Oz as she had promised? Glinda would never know, but as long as Rain was ok, Glinda would be as well. At last, she finally entered the EC Palace and did not look back as she closed the doors behind her.

 **AN: Another three-part one-shot about Elphaba returning to Glinda, though all in different ways. Although they're all in the same story, treat each third as its own individual fic (obviously they aren't continuous if Glinda dies in Part 1. I also just made up that 130 years age, IDK how old she is in canon, book or musical).**


End file.
